Nigerian On-Air Personality, Omotunde Adebowale David popular known as Lolo1 has in a new interview revealed that it has not been easy been a single mother and a getting a new man is top priority at the moment.
Lolo1, who was formerly with Wazobia FM, granted an interview with THE SUN and she opened up on why she quit her radio job, challenges of motherhood and future plans among other issues.
How has 2019 been for you? Fabulous! I transited from one job to the other, the year has not been as tasking as I expected. But I have accomplished a bit more. Before the end of the year, you will see me releasing my movies. This year will see me doing my comedy combat and my stage play, so it has been a good year.
Tell us about growing up. Would I say I was born with a silver spoon? I don’t know. Maybe, sliver or should I say bronze? I come from the average family of the late ’80s when we had a very strong middle class; so I think I wasn’t born poor. Dad was a printer who had his own printing company. My upbringing was basically in the boarding house for a long time. I went to the boarding house when I was in primary 3 and I stayed till I finished secondary school. I spent a lot of time in boarding school, so it made me very independent. You know, being away from home for a very long time when I was young made me very independent, and today, I can say I am a one-man army (laughter).
Your quitting Wazobia FM took fans by surprise. What informed that decision and what’s your next plan? Wazobia FM has been such a blessing to me and I am so excited for all the advancements; but no matter how much you love your brand, the desire to grow cannot be suppressed, and that is what I am doing. I want to keep aspiring as new opportunities open up. Even though, I am doing something new, I am not ready to give it off now because it is still cooking. But then it is still in line with radio.
You’ve been in broadcasting for the past 15 years, what were the high points? I started out with Metro (FM) where I cut my teeth. That was where I went on air for the first time with Modele Ope and met the likes of Delight Alfred, Frank Edoho and Charles Anozodo. Wazobia FM changed a lot for me. I had my first set of awards and the job gave me access to big names and celebrities. I don’t think there is any A-list artiste that I have not interviewed. I had the privilege of interviewing ambassadors and even the vice president and traveled extensively. It has been an amazing and rewarding journey with so many high points.
How about the low points? When I started pidgin broadcasting, I had an experience. I have done English programming for a long time hence pidgin challenged me at first. I was on Cool FM, doubling as a newsreader when I called Roger Federer ‘Roger Federerer’. Before I knew it, it was in the newspapers how terrible the newscaster was! How I couldn’t pronounce Roger Federer right. It was in a national daily, so you can imagine how devastating it was for me. I remember another instance when I was on radio as a new broadcaster and someone said ‘get that person off the air. She doesn’t know how to speak pidgin’.
Tell us about your role models? Ruth Benamaisia was one of my role models growing up. I loved watching her on NTA news and I would be like ‘she’s so dark and beautiful’. I also looked up to Ophra Winfrey because she’s everything I dreamt of becoming. Tyler Perry? Yes, when it comes to movies and the kind of movies I would like to produce. Because I do a lot of things, I have different role models. Coming back home to Nigeria, I look up to Funke Akindele because she has done a lot of great stuff.
You starred in Funke Akindele’s Jenifa Diaries. What was it like working with her? Any plans to go into Nollywood fulltime? I love working for Funke Akindele. She is an amazing producer, costumier, director and everything rolled into one, and she is awesome! She deserves every accolade she is getting today. She is tough on the job but that only helps you get better as long as you are willing to listen to instructions. I am doing Nollywood on a small scale for now, because I still have a regular day job, which is even more challenging.
Tell us about life as a single mother of four and what is your advice for women in your shoes? Being a single mum has been one of the most challenging roles in my life. It is a situation that nobody desires, but when life happens, you take it as it comes and move on. I always tell everyone it is not easy, so stop labeling any woman or a mother that is nurturing her children on her own. It is not a disease; it is a state of being. You can’t label people just because they are single, married, divorced, aged, coloured or whatever. We just have to treat everyone like the unique individuals they are. I don’t consider myself different because I am a woman. I consider myself hardworking and a human being; it is not really about my gender. It is tough raising children.
Photo Credit: Getty
